English: This painting was made two years after the French Revolution. It was executed in Rome in 1791, and exhibited at the Paris Salon that same year. Greco-Roman subjects were often used to illustrate current moral issues; the matter here relates to the duty to sacrifice oneself for a higher cause. The scene is from the legend of the Trojan War. In an attempt to escape a prophesy of premature death, the young hero Achilles had been disguised by his mother and hidden among the daughters of Lycomedes. But he was cunningly discovered – Odysseus (to the left) hid a helmet and a sword among his gifts to the girls. Achilles could not resist the lure of the weapons and revealed his identity. He was forced into battle, where he died heroically.